If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, is it a duck?
According to Axios, the answer is “yes,” and then “no” a few years later, when the first answer becomes politically inconvenient.
The media outlet was forced to do this little bit of Soviet-style revisionism after Vice President Kamala Harris ascended to the Democratic Party’s primary presidential ticket position for the 2024 election.
Harris became a so-called “border czar” as she was put in charge of solving the crisis at the southern border and was allowed broad license to do so in the early days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Of course, the United States is not the Russian Empire — there is no official “czar” title in use in America. While her orders and powers are real, the word itself is political jargon only.
The fact that this title does not exist did not stop outlets from covering Harris’ mandate as a czar-level calling.
Does Kamala Harris pose a threat to Donald Trump?
“The number of unaccompanied minors crossing the border has reached crisis levels,” Axios wrote in 2021.
“Harris, appointed by Biden as border czar, said she would be looking at the ‘root causes’ that drive migration.”
Now, three years later, Harris is being called to answer for her lack of action in the ongoing border crisis.
Her time in charge of the border saw a grand total of one visit to El Paso, Texas, in which Border Patrol agents were reportedly ordered to sanitize facilities of immigrants to present a “show” for the visiting vice president.
With the short runway left for Harris’ fledgling campaign before the November election, this is the worst possible time for valid criticism of the vice president to be allowed to take root.
Leftists realize this, and also understand that you can’t change the past, but you can revise it.
Axios’ latest article on Kamala Harris is the prime example of this. It now classifies her “border czar” title as an erroneous name being used by Republicans to undercut the vice president.
“In the past few days,” a Wednesday Axios article reads, “the Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the ‘border czar’ title — which she never actually had.”
The outlet continued to blame Harris’ link to the border on media confusion and conservatives, statements it was forced to revisit in a later update to the article.
In an editor’s note attached after the article was published, Axios admitted that it was one of the news outlets that had used the “unofficial moniker” of border czar while writing about Harris and her duties.
The edit came after outrage following the article’s publication, with many accusing the outlet of attempting to gaslight voting Americans. The piece was posted on social media platform X and soon earned a community note calling out the discrepancy.
The Trump campaign and Republicans have tagged Harris repeatedly with the “border czar” title — which she never actually had.https://t.co/PPHCjKBf83
— Axios (@axios) July 24, 2024
With the 2024 finish line mere months away, Harris may not be able to catch up to her opponent, former President Donald Trump, on her own.
Expect to see more people in the media work to defend Harris’ reputation as the critical election date approaches.
